Paranormal Retno specializes in sexual problems
By T. Sima Gunawan
JAKARTA (JP): Do you want to stay young?
Paranormal Retno Widati has the recipe: submerge yourself in water at midnight under a full moon.
This is only one of the things about Retno which might impress you.
Retno is a former fashion designer who turned to handling sexual problems, particularly impotence, early ejaculation, infertility and mental depression.
Thousands of people have consulted her. Every day dozens of patients line up where ever she opens shop.
Retno began her practice late in 1988 at the age of 33 in Yogyakarta. She moved to Jakarta four years later.
From May 31 to June 8 she practiced at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, along with two other traditional healers Romo H.J. Handoyo Lukman and H.M. Hembing Wijayakusuma. The healing sessions were among the activities organized by Taman Mini in conjunction with the Javanese New year, which fell on May 31.
Retno became accustomed to traditional and spiritual rites at an early age because her grandfather was a traditional healer and her mother is an expert in jamu (traditional herbs).
She recalled that when she was still very young her grandfather used to take her to the weekly meetings of local paranormals and to visit the graves of respected faith healers.
"I was also bathed with air kembang (water mixed with flowers) even though I did not understand the ritual," she said.
Javanese people say their prayers and use air kembang as an important instrument in the rituals because they believe this will bring safety and prevent problems.
Born in Surakarta, Central Java, Retno learned about jamu by watching her mother make the traditional herb medicines. But the young Retno, who left school in her second year of the senior high, was not interested in making a living from jamu. She learned how to sew and became a seamstress.
In 1973 she got married. Her first child was born in 1975 and she had another within the next two years. The marriage ended in 1979.
Retno left her hometown in 1982 to try her luck in Jakarta. She worked at PT Pembangunan Jaya and took every course offered at the Bunka School of Fashion.
With her new skill, Retno moved to Yogyakarta to start a career as a fashion designer. But became disappointed because she couldn't fully develop her creativity.
"People treated me like a seamstress," she said.
While still upset, she met several faith healers who taught her about spiritual exercises such as fasting and meditating.
Momentous
Her life changed one night when she was meditating in the place where Panembahan Senopati, the first king of the Mataram Kingdom, used to perform spiritual exercises, in Parangkusumo, near the holiday resort of Parangtritis beach.
"After meditating for several hours, I saw lights coming from four directions. And there were vibrations, it was like a voice, but not a strong voice. The voice seemed to come from inside myself, saying it was time to help other people," she told The Jakarta Post early this week.
The juru kunci (the person in charge of guarding a place regarded to be sacred), also saw the lights and immediately told people in the neighborhood that Retno had got wahyu (divine inspiration). The news spread very fast.
In the morning, many people crowded Retno's house, asking her to help them with their various problems.
"But I had doubts. I was afraid I couldn't help. Therefore I meditated again for another several days until I got a lead. I was inspired to specialize in sex-related problems, such as impotency and infertility," she said.
She claimed she could help men who were impotent because of stress or diabetes because it paralyzed some nerves. But she couldn't handle sexually-transmitted diseases because they are caused by viruses.
Stress can affect people badly. One of her patients was a judge who was seriously ill because of stress after he made a decision on a land case which went against his conscience. He became impotent, his joints became stiff and his skin blackened as if burned.
Retno handled the impotency and referred him to see her colleague to deal with his other problems.
"I can't handle all kinds of maladies. If there is a complication, I ask my patient to see another healer," she said.
How does she heal her patients?
"By supernatural means: prayers, meditation, and mantra," she replied.
Traditional herbs and massages are two other important factors in the treatment.
She massages the patients with her fingers and presses certain nerves, depending on the problems, and runs burning incense just above the skin to improve circulation.
She said that several healthy men had pretended to be ill and asked for her help.
"But I knew that they were lying from their eyes and attitude," Retno said, adding that she told them not to come again.
A strong smell of the burning incense fills her consultation room. There were three kris, a bowl of air kembang and a kendi (traditional water jar made of clay), on the table.
"I don't worship kris. I put them here as decoration. It would be funny if I had crystal ball in the room," said the serious looking woman.
After finishing up on Friday, she left for Surabaya where she will open shop in a boarding house of the Jamu Jago company on Jl. Taman Putro Agung 5, phone (031) 360-491.
The jamu company is planning to launch a new product based on Retno's prescription.
Retno said she has moved to Surabaya in response to demand and because of a (wangsit) divine inspiration that she recently got.
"I don't get wangsit very often. Only once every few years," she said.
She admitted that only 70 percent of her patients are healed. Retno gives the rest moral and spiritual support.
The majority of her patients are from the upper-middle class, including top government army officials and tycoons, she divulged.
Most of the women who come to her complain that they haven't had children after years of marriage, a few others were frigid.
Infertility
Candrawati Heru and Agung sought her help to cope with their infertility. Six years after the marriage, they remained childless.
Candrawati, 33, told the Post she visited Retno for the first time in September after reading an article and watching a TV talk-show about the popular faith healer.
She said that Retno massaged her lower stomach, as well as her husband's, and heated them with the burning incense.
In October Candrawati became pregnant.
"I was really happy. I cried and I thanked God," she said.
Candrawati was so weak during her pregnancy that she was bedridden for a month.
The baby was born on May 12 and was named Maria Angelina.
Candrawati said that before she consulted Retno, she had also seen two other faith healers.
She turned to paranormals after modern medication failed.
"My doctor told me that my ovum was too small. Upon his suggestion, I had some hormone injections. But this didn't work," she said.
"I even underwent artificial insemination, which failed," she said.
Asked how much Retno charged her, Candrawati said that the faith healer did not set the tariff.
"It all depended on us," she said.
Retno handled 60 patients a day from her rented house in Pasar Minggu.
Even in the middle of hectic days, she said always found time for herself.
"When I want to meditate, I ask God to give me time and thank God, the patients don't come," she added.
Retno does spiritual exercises regularly. Two days a week she eats nothing but cassavas, potatoes or other tubers. Once a month she goes to a lake, a river or a spring where she will stay submerged for about an hour under a full moon. Sometimes she meditates at the top of a mountain or at the beach.
For Retno, spiritual exercises are like charging the "battery" of her spiritual power.
"This is as if you absorb the energy from the nature and put it inside your body," she explained.
Retno is the chairwoman of the Yogyakarta-based Information Center of Paranormals, which was established in 1991.
Paranormals have their own fields of expertise, Retno said. For example, there are paranormals who can cure diseases, drive away evil spirits, find stolen things or prevent rain.
Even though Retno is a paranormal, she does not fence herself in the spiritual circle all the time. She listens to the radio and enjoys popular music from the 1960s. Among her favorite singers are Skeeter Davis, Tom Jones, Titik Puspa, Ernie Djohan and Lilies Suryani.
"Once in a while I go to the Taman Ismail Marzuki Art Center to see a play," she said.
Retno, who loves a hot shower, doesn't wear traditional dresses. Her favorite daily outfit is jeans. Black, dark blue and deep red are the colors she likes best.
Asked if she has ever suffered stress, Retno replied: "Everybody must have experienced stress."
She suggested that people do things they really like -- things which can give them the feeling of satisfaction -- to cope with stress.
"Stress can be converted into energy," she said.
Retno's philosophy of life is to live like water.
"Sometimes it stops in a pond, or a river or a sea. But it does not really stand still. Burned by the heat of the sun, it will moisturize, then become a cloud and fall again in the shape of rain drops," she said.
It doesn't always rain in the area even though it is cloudy. As the wind blows, the cloud will move to another area, where rain drops will fall. Again, this symbolizes life, which is moving. Life is not static, but what will happen in our life doesn't entirely depend on human efforts.
"It is God, the Creator, who has the final decision in life," she asserted.